Question about bottom drain and gravity and skimmer
- Thread starter fergus
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One of us is crossing posts. No idea anymore. But my happy fish are zipping around the pond now!
I'm getting confused again.
I attached a very rough diagram that I drew up last night after reading what we talked about.
And I also attached one that incorporates everything onto one pump. Is there any reason the second diagram would not work? It's not two systems and there will be a single point of failure, but it is basically a replication of the "Mechanical > UV > Biological" plus a small loop. In the diagram, "FILTER" = Mechanical.
Yes, I should probably just get a smaller pump. If I'd bought a smaller pump from the start, the drain line would work.
The two pumps I have are way overkill for such a small pond. If I run them both at the same time, they will turn over the entire pond 4.5 times every hour. Together with the UVC, I think the energy consumption would cost me AU$156 (US$115) per month to run.
But one of the pumps alone is not all that excessive, if I can get the plumbing right.
Attachments
So the drain is only 1 inch - the cause of all my problems. I couldn't have made it any bigger.
The pond is 530 gallons, ~27.5 inches deep.
100%. I'm going nuts. I could never do 12,000.
What do you think about the setup above? The second version is basically a modified version of the one I posted previously.
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So 1" is going to be the future source of potential problems, it could clog. 2" with a 2" bottom drain would be perfect. I have a 3" with a 3" bottom drain and half the water, it made install much more painful, and I think has been a source of other issues in terms of heights of settlement containers, etc., but it doesn't really matter.
The source of your problems is that your pump is way to freaking big.
My old pump (previous pond) was the EcoPlus 633, 590 GPH / 2233 LPH. I have everything raised off the ground on pot stands to life an extra 4" - everything looks prettier and slows it down a little.
My new pump is a little smaller, Simple Deluxe 400 HPH
Why did I buy these pumps - they have a 3/4" threaded outflow. I then bought a 1" MNPT x 3/4" Slip PVC Reducer (fancy name for adapter, screws into the pump, then I PVC glue/cement the 1" flex PVC. To go through the "walls" of the buckets I have a 1" PVC pipe piece through a 1" uniseal, and 1" PVC unions on each side, so everything is screw disconnect.
WIth supply chain issues, the pumps are now $65 (I paid $50).
I think that you will be fine with 1 pump. The only reason for 2 pumps is if you have two separate plumbing systems. I like the redundancy and I like more cheaper small pumps.
for a 530 gallon pond a 1" line is not so small it's a problem. between it and a second drain line from the skimmer you have more than ample diameter to pull as much water as needed. the 1" line alone under minimal pressure will allow 960 gallons an hour to pass through it and at 530 gallons your almost 2twice the gallon turnover for the pond right where you want to be. Providing your pump is that strong as well.
Your first drawing makes little reasoning, why would you have two pumps for such a small pond.
Your design has some concerns. the settlement chamber will need to be good size inorder to do much, as the volume of water needed for dirt to settle out is great. you could do a pleated sock for instance or several but that will clog regularly. not a bad thing just would require frequent attention. is your filter box with settlement a store bought filter?
The uv water i would have dump back into the pond why put filtered water back to a filter?
feed to the bog needs to dump out at the bottom of the bog and a series of pipe making a baffle . unless you bog is so small one pipe will do the job across the bottom
All pipes should have ball valves on them so you can control how much water goes where. other wise the pipe that's the largest and shortest will win that fight and the other pipe will do next to nothing. that rule is for both supply and return piping
a vacuum breaker or check valve will be needed above the water level in the bog so it doesn't syphon back. If your pump containment is as tall as the bog then you can do without it .
Your making this much harder on your self then it is
You can have 20 lines going to your pump so long as you have ball valves on them and the same goes for the return to the pond lines. you can tap into any pipe you want but after the water is filtered it should go back to the pond. so tap a pipe for the uv from the pipes back to the pond and have that pipe dump into the pond. you want water circulation in the pond in different areas . though at your size one 1000gph will do the job. thats where your ball valves come into play.
another note is do not use the kink free tubing it has a much higher rate of failure
Your first drawing makes little reasoning, why would you have two pumps for such a small pond.
Your design has some concerns. the settlement chamber will need to be good size inorder to do much, as the volume of water needed for dirt to settle out is great. you could do a pleated sock for instance or several but that will clog regularly. not a bad thing just would require frequent attention. is your filter box with settlement a store bought filter?
The uv water i would have dump back into the pond why put filtered water back to a filter?
feed to the bog needs to dump out at the bottom of the bog and a series of pipe making a baffle . unless you bog is so small one pipe will do the job across the bottom
All pipes should have ball valves on them so you can control how much water goes where. other wise the pipe that's the largest and shortest will win that fight and the other pipe will do next to nothing. that rule is for both supply and return piping
a vacuum breaker or check valve will be needed above the water level in the bog so it doesn't syphon back. If your pump containment is as tall as the bog then you can do without it .
Your making this much harder on your self then it is
You can have 20 lines going to your pump so long as you have ball valves on them and the same goes for the return to the pond lines. you can tap into any pipe you want but after the water is filtered it should go back to the pond. so tap a pipe for the uv from the pipes back to the pond and have that pipe dump into the pond. you want water circulation in the pond in different areas . though at your size one 1000gph will do the job. thats where your ball valves come into play.
another note is do not use the kink free tubing it has a much higher rate of failure
for a 530 gallon pond a 1" line is not so small it's a problem. between it and a second drain line from the skimmer you have more than ample diameter to pull as much water as needed. the 1" line alone under minimal pressure will allow 960 gallons an hour to pass through it and at 530 gallons your almost 2twice the gallon turnover for the pond right where you want to be. Providing your pump is that strong as well.
Your first drawing makes little reasoning, why would you have two pumps for such a small pond.
Your design has some concerns. the settlement chamber will need to be good size inorder to do much, as the volume of water needed for dirt to settle out is great. you could do a pleated sock for instance or several but that will clog regularly. not a bad thing just would require frequent attention. is your filter box with settlement a store bought filter?
The uv water i would have dump back into the pond why put filtered water back to a filter?
feed to the bog needs to dump out at the bottom of the bog and a series of pipe making a baffle . unless you bog is so small one pipe will do the job across the bottom
All pipes should have ball valves on them so you can control how much water goes where. other wise the pipe that's the largest and shortest will win that fight and the other pipe will do next to nothing. that rule is for both supply and return piping
a vacuum breaker or check valve will be needed above the water level in the bog so it doesn't syphon back. If your pump containment is as tall as the bog then you can do without it .
Your first drawing makes little reasoning, why would you have two pumps for such a small pond.
Your design has some concerns. the settlement chamber will need to be good size inorder to do much, as the volume of water needed for dirt to settle out is great. you could do a pleated sock for instance or several but that will clog regularly. not a bad thing just would require frequent attention. is your filter box with settlement a store bought filter?
The uv water i would have dump back into the pond why put filtered water back to a filter?
feed to the bog needs to dump out at the bottom of the bog and a series of pipe making a baffle . unless you bog is so small one pipe will do the job across the bottom
All pipes should have ball valves on them so you can control how much water goes where. other wise the pipe that's the largest and shortest will win that fight and the other pipe will do next to nothing. that rule is for both supply and return piping
a vacuum breaker or check valve will be needed above the water level in the bog so it doesn't syphon back. If your pump containment is as tall as the bog then you can do without it .
Ok ok thanks guys that's really helpful. I will take all that on board and get started on it properly.
Separate settlement chamber, UV straight back to pond. If the larger pump doesn't work then I'll get something smaller and resell the two I have.
There's no way I could make the drain any bigger; the retaining wall goes too deep and I don't have the tools to drill through it. So I ran the drain pipe inside an existing pipe that goes through the wall and is itself 2 inches wide.
If the pipe does end up clogging or leaking, then I'll put a plug in it and do some other intake system instead.
At the moment, no leaks (just pumped straight back into the pond without filtration).
Many many thanks again for taking the time guys.
Separate settlement chamber, UV straight back to pond. If the larger pump doesn't work then I'll get something smaller and resell the two I have.
There's no way I could make the drain any bigger; the retaining wall goes too deep and I don't have the tools to drill through it. So I ran the drain pipe inside an existing pipe that goes through the wall and is itself 2 inches wide.
If the pipe does end up clogging or leaking, then I'll put a plug in it and do some other intake system instead.
At the moment, no leaks (just pumped straight back into the pond without filtration).
Many many thanks again for taking the time guys.
While i do not have the issue with a small pipe size on the drain . i have had taken the drain and placed the intake under a strainer/ aquablock panel and then covered that with rock. That would insure you don't pull anything so large in that it clogs your drain.
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